Cloud computing allows users to perform computing tasks where data, applications and other computing systems resources are accessed over a network. The network of servers and connections used to provide the computing service is generally referred to as the cloud. That is, cloud service providers typically abstract the underlying resources and infrastructures used to deliver the service, so that users can access the resources somewhere in the cloud. Without worrying about the logistics, such as where files are located or how files are stored on dedicated physical storage devices, users can often realize substantial cost savings.
In a cloud system, one service provider may provide files to multiple customers on a global basis. Sharing of computational resources in a cloud system enables a provider to use resources efficiently. Multi-tenant architectures have been developed to allow multiple user groups (also referred to as “organizations” or “tenants”) to share the computational resources in cloud computing.
Stronger than simple access control, tenancy is a logical compartmentalization of data and resources within the cloud. Each tenant appears to have unique and sole access to a subset of the system resources. A tenant may be further configured to contain multiple subtenants. Associated with a tenant may be specific access nodes, security control, storage policies, and access to the data stored on that tenant's resources.
During a multi-tenancy configuration, administrators may add certain access nodes as resources available to tenants. Since a tenant is a conceptual subset of the computational resources within a cloud, an administrator may not be aware of the physical location and the logical configuration of an access node. In many instances, a cloud system may comprise distributed computational resources serving customers on a global basis. These computational resources may in turn contain computational resources located across multiple data centers in different locations. Thus, without knowing the underlining network layout of the access nodes available to a tenant, an administrator's configuration may not provide efficient routes to reach resources serving the customers.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved method or system that would find shortest path in multi-access nodes to improve the efficiency and reduce the latency of cloud service networks.